


The Ultimate Route

by MarinaNoon



Category: Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club
Genre: Explicit Language, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 10:49:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6953560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarinaNoon/pseuds/MarinaNoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A fictional route for one of the few characters in Asagao you can't date but desperately want to.</p><p>Hana has to face the decision of who she wants to take to the Flower Festival, but none of the boys seem to appeal to her as much as a certain other person.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ultimate Route

"Oh hey! It's almost time for the Flower Festival."  
With everything happening so quickly, it felt almost like it snuck up on me.  
"Have you decided who you're taking yet?" Mai asked.  
"Ah... er..."  
Right. I had to go with someone to the festival. But who should I ask?  
The only guys I knew were the members of the Normal Boots Club. Would they want to go with me? And which one should I go with?  
Jon was kind and caring, but I was a bit worried he cared too much about Jacques and the play to notice anything else.  
PBG was so easygoing, but something about the way he looked at me still bothered me.  
Satch was mature and really smart, but he seemed hard to get close to... or was I imagining that?  
Then there was Shane who... let's be honest, he hated me. There was no way he'd say yes... but then again, he had started to warm up to me.  
Paul of Continue?, popped into my head, too, but the last few times I hung around him, he caused major destruction.  
Jirard was so caring and friendly, but I wasn't sure he was interested in me in that way.  
There was Jared, too, but... I looked at Mai. I couldn't do that, could I?  
"Well, I..."  
I looked at Mai again. There was something else. Something that had been in the back of my mind for a while now. I had never talked to anyone about it but it was a feeling that I couldn't deny.  
I had a crush on Mai.  
It was hard to admit it, but I really had romantic feelings for her. Everything from the way she giggled when she thought of something, to her superhuman claps on my back, to her always sticking up for me.  
She was energetic but still considerate. She made every room she entered instantly become ten shades brighter and she knew how to cheer up anyone, no matter how down they were. The first verse of a certain Hozier song came to mind. There was only one problem.  
How on Earth would I tell her that?!  
"Hana?"  
Mai snapped me back out of it, looking at me concerned.  
"Are you alright?"  
"What, me? Sure I am, I've never been better!" I replied, a bit too cheery. Oh boy. Guess this was as good as any time to ask.  
"So... are you going to the Flower Festival with anyone?" I tried to sound as casual as possible, not entirely able to hide the tremble in my voice.  
Mai didn't answer right away, she fiddled with her hair instead.  
Eventually she said "Well, I was thinking of asking Jared, but..." She trailed off.  
I gathered all the courage I could find in my small body.  
"M-Mai. Would y-you like to go to the Flower Festival with me?" I squinted my eyelids shut, ready for the bomb to explode. She was either going to laugh or to yell at me. To my surprise neither happened. I slowly opened my eyes.  
Mai stood s-surprisingly clOSE TO ME. She didn't seem angry or anything. In fact, the look on her face was... tender?  
"Hana..." She spoke in a quiet, gentle voice. Shivers ran down my spine. She was unbearably close now. Suddenly she jumped away from me and beamed at me. "Oh my gosh, of course! I thought you'd never ask!"  
This was... definitely not what I had inspected. This was different. This was... good? Very good! In fact, fantastic! I couldn't believe it.  
"Really?!"  
"Yes, Hana. I've been waiting for you to ask for a while now." Now I was confused.  
"Then why didn't you say anything?"  
Suddenly, Mai seemed embarrassed. "I wasn't sure if you liked me that way..." she muttered, staring at her feet.  
Now it was my turn to beam at her. So I wasn't the only one who was anxious!  
  
Dinner that night sure was interesting. To my surprise, the entirity of the Normal Boots table reacted bittersweet when Mai told them that we were going to the Festival together.  
PBG looked like a sad puppy again, Jared only stuttered about how he had had the perfect plan to ask me.  
Even Shane showed a reaction other than his usual indifference. He looked downright ...hurt. And mad... at Mai? I caught him mouthing a sentence to Mai when he thought I wasn't looking. I couldn't quite make it out, looking from the corner of my eye, but I could've sworn it was something like "I drew a flower for her."  
To my relief however, not everyone took the news so negatively. Satch and Jirard both gratulated me for having found a date and Jon was already poking fun at me, asking when the wedding was gonna be.  
Despite the uproar the revelation that Mai and I had a date had caused, I couldn't help but grin the entire evening.  
When I went to bed that night, I felt like I was on top of the world. Tomorrow would be a great day.  
  
I awoke the next morning to the sound of Mai's hair-straightener shutting repeatedly. When Mai saw that my eyes were open, she jumped with joy.  
"Hana!! You're awake! Come on, sleepyhead! Time for breakfast!"  
I sat up and saw Mai pointing at her desk, where a tray with several pieces of toast, two glasses of orange juice, two bowls of cereal and a plate of scrambled eggs stood. I was astounded.  
"Did you-?"  
"Mhm!" Mai nodded, smiling her famous continent-bridging smile.  
I was about to get up, but Mai motioned me to stay where I was. "Uh-uh, you're staying where you are."  
I looked at her confused, but she didn't pay attention. Instead she now hopped over to her desk and brought the tray back to the bed with her. She sat down on my mattress, carefully positioning it on her lap.  
"Open your mouth." She held a piece of toast in her hand.  
"Mai I'm not a little k-" Too late, my mouth had already been stuffed with toast. I chewed, trying to protest, but she didn't give me a chance. When I swallowed and opened my mouth to say something, she already motioned the toast to me again.  
As I bit down, she came closer b-biting the other end of the toast!?  
We were exactly five inches away from kissing right then and there. I stared into Mai's eyes and she returned my gaze with an intensity I had never felt before. Holy fuck.  
We sat there staring at each other for a while. We didn't break our lock until the toast dropped out of my mouth and almost landed on my sheets, hadn't Mai caught it.  
After that we finished breakfast in silence.  
  
We spent the whole morning together watching Mai's favorite anime, before we headed out to meet up with Jared and PBG who had invited us to a match of Stomp Sisters.  
I had a great time with Mai, though I caught myself more than once wondering if Mai really reciprocated my feelings. The more I thought about it, I started to notice how obvious it had been this entire time that Mai was at least bi-curious. She had told me more than once about times where she had wanted to make out with girls, just to try it. She also complimented other girls on their looks. A lot.  
All this however made me wonder if she really had feelings for me or if she was just trying to get me into bed with her. I looked at Mai, who was right now playing against PBG on the Ultimate Terminus stage.  
Mai knew that I wasn't ready to... you know, and she respected that. Then what was all this for? Did she really have romantic feelings for me?  
"Hana?" I looked up. Mai and PBG looked at me expectantly. "It's your turn."  
I took the controller, Jared took the other one. We plucked ourselves down next to each other on the sofa and looked at the screen. Jared picked the Nario Kart stage. The trick on this stage was to not get hit by the Wry Gals who were driving by on their carts.  
After ten minutes of sweat, tears and blood, Jared managed to beat me. By now I was accustomed to Turbie's controlls, but Jared's main Luise, Nario's sister, had a clear advantage over Turbie.  
Mai got up. "Okay guys, this was fun, but we need to get going." PBG and Jared gave us confused looks. "Like, for the Festival?"  
Jared stared at his watch. "Mai it's 4pm."  
"Yeah, so?" Mai made an angry face. "You guys may only need to slap on some Eau de Ham and put on a t-shirt, but Hana and I actually care about our looks." She marched out of the room. I quickly waved PBG and Jared goodbye, shot them an apologetic glance and went after her.  
  
"Aaahh, Hana, you look so cute!" I turned around to face Mai. We were both wearing yukatas and just got ready to leave for the Festival.  
"You too, Mai!" Well, she didn't look cute. She looked stunning. I could barely take my eyes off her as we left the dorms and headed towards the entrance gate of the academy. Mai's hand brushed against mine multiple times. If on accident or not, I couldn't tell.  
We strolled down the path to Higanbana in silence. Occasionally I looked up to Mai. She would then return my glance with a shy smile. I think I was in love.  
  
We shuffled through the crowds of people who had come to Higanbana to visit the Festival. I hadn't expected the Festival to be so popular, but apparently people from all over Japan came to Higanbana just to see it. It was hard to stay together in the crowd, and Mai and I almost got seperated two times. Eventually she decided that it would be helpful if we took each other's hand. Without any romantic subtext or anything.  
And that's how we ended up walking around the Festival, hands locked.  
While visiting the different booths and games, we met a lof of Asagao students. PBG and Jeff hung around at a booth that had a football game, we saw Continue? doing a crazy dance around the bonfire, even Shane nodded towards us politely when we met him at a ring-throwing game.  
Soon Mai asked me if I was hungry. I hadn't realized it until now, but my stomach was making the noises of a lion that hadn't been fed for a month. So we decided to head to one of the food stands. Suddenly someone called out our names.  
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the two lovebirds Mai and Hana." We turned around. Ian stood behind us, arms around the shoulders of a guy that I didn't know. I assumed he didn't go to Asagao. "Looks like I'm not the only gay in the village anymore, huh?" he said, a sly grin on his face.  
I returned his grin by sticking my tongue out at him. Mai eyed the boy next to Ian warily. I turned to Mai.  
"What's wrong?"  
She muttered her reply so only I could hear it.  
"That guy, he's from Asagao's rival school. I saw him at my last volleyball match. He's on their men's team."  
I looked at Mai. I felt like there was something she wasn't telling me. She must've read my mind, because she sighed before adding "He asked me on a date after the match."  
Oh.  
"What happened? Did it not go well?"  
Mai hesitated.  
"Well... the date was supposed to be today. He asked me to the Flower Festival. B-but I ditched him when you asked me to go with me!"  
_Oh._ There was that crippling doubt again. Why exactly did Mai agree on going to the Festival with me when she had already had a date? Was she only going with me to make me feel better about myself? Had she expected that the other guys wouldn't want to go with me? I frantically shook my head. No, Hana. Don't even think that way.  
Mai knew very well that there were crowds of boys lining up just to take me on a date, even if that sounded ridiculous and incredibly selfish... I shook my head again. Stop it, Hana.  
I turned to Mai, who had already gone ahead and ordered food for us. She handed me a small box of onigiri and paid for it.  
I wanted to say something, but again, Mai must've guessed what was going on inside my head because she immediately said "No, Hana, I'm paying. You deserve to be treated to a good time, too."  
I opened my mouth to respond that she had already made breakfast for me, but in that moment Ian and his date (whose name I still didn't know as I just realized) came back.  
Ian didn't seem as if he was here to talk to us and was just on his phone, but his date came towards us, glaring at Mai.  
"So this is the girl you ditched me for, hm?!" He built himself up in front of us. I receded, scared of what he would do.  
Mai, however, didn't seem impressed. She just glared back at him.  
"Come on, Oikawa" Aha! His name was Oikawa! "I can decide myself who I want to date or not. Besides, Hana is a billion times better than you. She actually cares about people's feelings, you know?"  
"So you're implying that I didn't care about you?"  
"Obviously not, since you seem to have found a replacement pretty fast." Damn.  
Ian finally looked up from his phone.  
Oikawa bit his lip before he replied "At least Ian doesn't ditch me for a pink-haired dwarf. I mean really, pink hair? That's just desperate."  
I swear I could physically hear Roundabout playing right before Mai punched him in the face.  
Ian and I stood there, exchanging panicked looks while our dates wrestled on the floor.  
Luckily, after a few seconds Jeff, PBG and Luke showed up and seperated the two.  
Luke quickly pulled Oikawa into a wristlock, but it took both PBG AND Jeff to hold Mai. She really had the strength of a bodybuilder.  
Mai was furious. "LET ME GO, YOU TWO! HE CALLED MY GIRLFRIEND A DWARF!"  
G-girlfriend?!  
Luke had let go of Oikawa, who now stood next to Ian, breathing heavily. Mai took another five minutes to calm down. Only after I had walked up to her and taken her hand, she would finally stop trying to murder everyone in a range of ten feet.  
After apologizing twenty times to both Ian and Oikawa, I took Mai by the hand and pulled her away.  
Somehow we ended up at the bonfire.  
I looked up at the flames as they slowly devoured the sticks and branches that were stacked together to form a tower.  
Mai sat on a log next to me, unusually quiet. After a while she finally spoke.  
"I'm sorry."  
I turned around to look at her. She looked miserable.  
"I really am. I just couldn't stand how he was making fun of your hair and your size and I-..."  
I sat down next to her and pulled her into a hug.  
"It's okay" I replied, leaning my head on her shoulder "Actually I was quite touched that you would punch a guy in the face for me." Heat rose up my neck. "Also you called me your girlfriend."  
I looked at Mai and saw that she was blushing too, her face almost the same red as her beautiful, long hair. We locked eyes. I stared into her beautiful green eyes and lost myself in them.  
We leaned in closer. This time there was no toast preventing us from kissing.

**Author's Note:**

> Also on Tumblr: http://fictionbynoon.tumblr.com/post/144854498404/the-ultimate-route


End file.
